The people of Tewkesbury have again shown their patriotic side by raising money needed for a tribute to war victims in just 24 hours.

Regular visitors to the town will know that its residents often put up English and British flags on occasions such as Remembrance Day and Armed Forces Day.

So perhaps it comes as no surprise that when an appeal to raise money needed to mark next month's 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Passchendaele was made, it was collected in a single day.

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Floral enthusiast Shelby Powell said: “Tewkesbury in Bloom have sponsored the summer floral tribute at The Cross for many years and traditionally local shops around The Cross have generously donated.

“This year, because of the significance of the anniversary, we wanted to give more people the opportunity of sponsoring the town’s tribute so we set up a crowd-funding page and promoted it on local social media sites.

The site of the Battle of Passchendaele

“Our target of £350 was reached within 24 hours which is an amazing result.

“It shows the strength of support from our local community towards those brave individuals who gave the ultimate sacrifice.”

She added that the crowd-funding appeal, which can be accessed by clicking here would be kept open until the end of July which is when the official commemoration weekend will take place. Surplus funds will be banked to secure the future funding of a floral tribute at The Cross for future years.

Tewkesbury's war memorial, often called The Cross

Passchendaele is the village in Belgium where the British and its Allies and the Germans suffered terrible losses during fighting between July and November 1917.

The First World War event is also sometimes called the Third Battle of Ypres.